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Sunshine Might Help Diabetes

A new research study which was performed on mice has indicated that exposure to sunlight could help to slow down weight gain and the development of type 2 diabetes. Scientists from Edinburgh and Southhampton in the UK along with individuals from Australia discovered that shining a UV light on mice that have been overfed caused them to gain less weight than control mice.

However, scientists are currently unsure why because the vitamin D, which is a chemical that is produced by the body when exposed to the UV rays of sunlight, did not appear to be a part of the process. Additional research will need to be done to see if sunlight could indeed impact people and help them to gain less weight in the same way that it impacts mice.

The researchers have also started that the results of the study are not conclusive because of the fact that mice, unlike humans, are nocturnal. They also have fur covering their bodies which humans do not have. Mice are typically exposed to much less sunlight than animals.

After the treatments with the UV light, the mice were also showing less signs that type 2 diabetes was beginning to develop such as high glucose levels and resistance to insulin. The effects of the UV treatment were also connected with nitric oxide which was released by the skin following a period of exposure to sunlight. A cream that was applied during the study to the skin of the mice also had a similar effect.

People that are exposed to the sun tend to live longer than people that do not get as much sun. This has already been proven in previous studies. It is important to understand how the sun affects humans and this study is hoping to achieve that. Skin cancer is not the only illness that can be related to outdoor exposure which is why further studies need to be done in order to determine how the sun impacts humans.

The sun is already known to have effects on other processes in the body such as inflammation, steroid biochemistry, endorphin release and malignancy when it comes to cancers. It is not known how much of an impact the sun has on metabolic syndrome and obesity but speculations and the evidence provided by this study could lead scientists to conclude that the sun does have an impact.

Obesity is one of the main risk factors of type 2 diabetes as people that have been overweight or obese for a significant amount of time are more likely to develop diabetes. In addition, obesity can also raise the risks of other health problems such as heart disease and kidney disease which have been link to diabetes as well.